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Comment by cookiengineer | Hacker News Reader

Pick KDE if you want the same integrated experience.

The Desktop on Linux has come pretty far already and most of the complaints are from people that made the wrong choice for their UX.

Sometimes setting up a WINE environment is worth it, but I'd argue that as long ss you still need to use the CLI to create environments, it's not there yet. Proton has been amazing for better support.

Also, don't pick Arch when you come from Windows, it's not the right choice for you. Pick a beginner friendly distro, everyone has to start somewhere. Debian, LinuxMint, or Ubuntu are incredibly easy to learn.

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Debian based distros lag in hardware support.

KDE is heavy, but that's the magic of Linux. It's to you to figure out your perfect combination.

I'd argue that if you don't care how computers work, buy a Mac. If you actually enjoy the process Linux is great.

> KDE is heavy

In terms of install size, performance is usually higher than on lightweight DEs.

The Mac is so much simpler. I just want a big screen iMac again. 27” with Apple silicon and no more of this inability to be used as a big dumb monitor when it’s ancient and slow.

I think for users who don't want to learn about their computer and just use it a (new or used) Mac is the best option if you want cover many use cases.

Linux on Desktop is especially great for used Laptops. In that case the Linux community had a bit of time to adjust to the hardware.

Laptop also offer a well defined hardware environment where you know exactly what's inside.

Once you additional devices the range of hardware that needs to be supported is so much wider and so is the risk that something does not work.

However, especially for more casual users to just use your Laptop and not connect anything ever is in my opinion a quite common use case. There you can optimise to support some Laptops really well. And that is where Linux can shine.

Target display mode on the old iMac 27" was nice. But why not get a Studio Display now? It's pretty much the same thing, but not burdened by having an old Mac inside and having to fiddle with target display mode.

They are overpriced for 2025 (especially because the height-adjustable stand costs quite a bit extra). But they wake very fast from sleep and work fantastically with a Mac.

Because there is no reason to throw away a beautiful 27” display that works?

>Sometimes setting up a WINE environment is worth it, but I'd argue that as long ss you still need to use the CLI to create environments, it's not there yet. Proton has been amazing for better support.

Go grab an installation of Bottles and prepare to be amazed.

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